Typically, comments in a news release fall under the corporate drivel category.

But Google doesn’t waste this valuable real estate, instead crafting quotes such as the following from Page that sound like real people talking:

There is no other CEO in the world that could have kept such headstrong founders so deeply involved and still run the business so brilliantly.

By inserting the word “headstrong” which carries a negative connotation, the quote comes across as more genuine and explains why a large percent of stories in media ranging from USA Today to The Guardian to Al Jazeera picked up the quote.

It would be interesting to know if someone from the Google PR team had the chutzpah to make this suggestion to Page or if Page came up with the idea himself.

As a final human touch, Schmidt tweeted after the news was out: “Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!”

I could have done without the exclamation point, but using a medium like Twitter provided a nice book end to why Google’s Board pursued Schmidt in the first place in 2001. Again, many articles pulled in the tweet as anecdotal relief to break up the hard news.

Back to the big picture–

Media coverage did touch on less-than-flattering perspectives such as the company’s inability to crack the code in social media, Schmidt’s public image, and the possibility that strife had entered the relationship between Schmidt and the founders.

And sure, there’s no skill in securing media interest for this type of news. As F. Scott Fitzgerald would have wryly noted, ”The tech goliaths are different than you and me.”

Still, the Google PR effort had a huge impact on influencing the narrative that resulted from the announcement.

As you would expect, the media property devoted a healthy piece of real estate to the news, 848 words to be exact. Roughly 70 percent of the RWW story came from the Google blog post and Q4 earnings release.

That’s not an indictment of RWW which has a reputation for quality content.

It’s a compliment to Google PR which delivered the components for storytelling that rings true.

But after analyzing the work from the Google PR function (don’t know if they used an outside agency or not) and comparing this work to the coverage, it became clear that Google PR made a huge difference.

Smart timing too.

It’s rare for a company to announce a CEO change from a position of strength.

Sam Whitmore January 26th, 2011
10:25 am

Can’t wait to see the storytelling behind Ballmer’s retirement… betcha it’s coming this year, you watch.

About

As CEO of a PR consultancy, I’ve always enjoyed dissecting the “why”
behind effective communications. Since penning a column for Technology
Marketing magazine back in 2003 called “Heard a Good Story Lately?”
I’ve been intrigued specifically with the variables that cause different
types of communications to stand out. This intrigue led me to develop a
training curriculum designed to help companies embrace the art of storytelling
in their communications and to write this blog. Read more about the blog
here.